Apparatus for cleaning pipe lines



1956 2. 0. s1". PALLEY APPARATUS FOR CLEANING PIPE LINES Filed Aug. 18,1955 INVENTvOR. 506% APPARATUS FOR CLEANING PIPE LINES Zoltan 0. St.Palley, Branford, Conn.

Application August 18, 1955, Serial No. 529,156

3 Claims. (Cl. 134-57) My invention relates to apparatus for washingarticles by means of a periodically reversed flow of cleaning fluid, andhas particular utility in the cleaning of pipe lines.

One of the important objects of my invention is to provide an apparatuswhich, due to its high Washing efiiciency and automatic operation, canbe used very effectively and economically for the sanitary cleaning ofpipe lines and various other equipments in the dairy and food processingplants, without their disassembly.

Another important object of my invention is to provide an apparatus inwhich the deceleration of the flow of the cleaning fluid, prior to itsautomatic reversing, can be finely regulated so as to avoid excessiveimpacts detrimental to glass pipes and other delicate equipments.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent during thecourse of the following description.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this application,wherein, for the purpose of illustration are shown a preferred and amodified form of my invention,

Figure 1.is a diagrammatic view of my invention,

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the preferred form of thefloat-switch,

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the same,

Figure 4 is a partial sectional view of the tank and outlet pipe with amodified arrangement of the floatswitch.

Referring to the drawing, wherein like numerals are employed todesignate like parts, the numeral 1 designates, as an example, a pipeline to be cleaned, the ends of which are connected to the outlet pipes3 and 163 of the tanks 2 and 102, respectively. These tanks arepreferably portable to permit their convenient application to the pipelines.

As these tanks and the associated mechanisms are duplicates in everyrespect, the description of one will be sufficient for the understandingof the invention.

The tank 2 is provided with a removable cover 4 adapted for the hermeticclosing of the tank. Leading into the upper portion of the tank 2 is theair pipe 5, connected to the control valve 6. This valve serves topermit the entry of the compressed air into the tank 2 from the airsupply pipe 7 in its open position; and in its closed position will openthe air passage from the tank into the exhaust pipe 8. The operating rodand handle 9 permits the manual operation of the control valve 6 andwill also serve as a position indicator.

Mechanically connected to this control valve 6 are two operatingsolenoids, so designed, that when solenoid 10 is energized it will movethe valve 6 into the open position and, when solenoid 11 is energized itwill move the valve 6 into the closed position.

Inserted into the energizing circuits of these solenoids 10 and 11 arethe time delay relays 12 and 13, respectively. The function of theserelays is to delay the transmission of the energizing current to therespective solenoid 2,771,891 Patented Nov. 27, 1956 by a predeterminedlength of time and these relays are provided with adjusting meanswhereby the length of the time delay can be selectively varied.Thesetime delay relays are known in the art, hence, their descriptionherein is not necessary.

Connected in the energizing circuit of the opening solenoid 10 is theswitch 14, used for the starting and stopping of the washing operationof the apparatus.

An important element of this invention is the liquid detector which, inthe preferred form, comprises a housing 15 communicating with the outletpipe 3, a float 16 movably mounted within the housing, a switch 17operatively connected to said float, in such a manner, that the switchwill open an electric circuit when the float rises due to its buoyancyin the liquid contained in the housing, and will close the circuit whenthe float will descend due to the lack of liquid in said housing. Theoperative connection between the float and the switch, which isschematically represented in Fig. 1 by a lever attached to the float 16and a connecting rod attached to the switch 17, may employ other meansof power transmission known in the art.

As an example, in the float-switch shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the motion ofthe float 16 is transmitted'to the switch 17 by means of a magneticcoupling, consisting of the magnet 18 attached to the float 16 and themagnet 19 attached to the switch 17, which is of the mercury type. Thetwo magnets are separated by the nonmagnetic wall of the housing 15,preventing the leakage of the liquid from the housing. Fig. 3 shows themercury switch in the closing position corresponding to the absence ofliquid in the housing of the float.

As an alternative, the switch 17 may be actuated by a photo-electriccell the illumination of which being a function of the position of thefloat 16. It is also within the spirit of the present invention todetect the presence or the absence of the liquid in the housing 15 bymeans of a photo-electric cell the illumination of which being affecteddirectly by the liquid contained in said housing, without the use of afloat.

inserted into the circuit of the switch 17 is the solenoid 21 of thereversing relay 20. This relay 20 has triple contacts and is soconstructed that it is kept by a spring in the normal position, shown inFig. 1, when the solenoid 21 is not energized. When, due to the closingof the switch 17, the solenoid 21 is energized, it will move the relay20 into the reversing position, indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1of the drawing. With the opening of the switch 17 the relay 20 will bereturned by a spring into the normal position.

In the companion unit, which is a duplicate of the one herein described,the corresponding elements are designated by the same numerals plus 100.

These two units are connected together by three electrical conductors23, 24, and 25; 23 and 24 being connected to the electric supplyterminals 26 and 27, respectively.

It is to be noted that in Fig. 1 of the drawing the liquid detectorhousings 15 and are at different levels. This is to illustrate thesignificant fact, that in the present invention the liquid detectors maybe located at any point of the outlet pipes 3 and 1113, even at thelower portion of the tanks 2 and 102, with any difference in the levelsof the two liquid detectors, without affecting the reversing operation.This is due to the fact that in this invention the actual timing of thereversal of the flow is determined by the setting of the adjustable timedelay relays 12, 13, 112 and 113. This feature of my invention has greatutility because it enables the operator to shut off the compresed airbehind the flow of liquid at any desired point of the pipe line, andallow the flow to decelerate to a predetermined extent, before thereverse.

air power is applied, reducing thereby the impact of the reversing.

Fig. 4 of the drawing shows a further alternative arrangement for thedisposition of the liquid detector.

The operation of the present invention is as follows: Referring to Fig.1, switches 14 and 114 are opened, cover 4 is removed and the cleaningfluid is deposited in tank'2, causing the rising of the float 16 and theopening of theswitch 17. Then, the time delay relays 12, 13, 112, 113,are set for the required time delays, and the cover 4.is secured inplace.

The washing operation is started by the closing of the switches 14 and114, the result of which will be the energizing of the solenoid 14),moving the control valve 6 ,into the open position (see 'Fig. 1). Thisopening of the valve 6 will permit the compressed air to flow from the.air supply pipe 7 into the tank 2, forcing the cleaning fluid from thetank 2 into the pipe line 1. This flow, advancing in the pipe line, willreach the liquid detector housing 115 and, by filling it, will cause therising of the float 116. As a result of this, switch 117 will open, thesolenoid v121 will be deenergized and the reversing relay .120 will moveinto the normal position, indicated by the full lines of the contacts inFig. 1.

The continued advance of the flow of the cleaning fluid will reach thetank 102. Fig. 1 shows an intermediate stage when most of the cleaningfluid has been already transferred into the tank 102. Continuing thistransfer, we reach the stage when all the cleaning fluid is forced outof the tank 2 and outlet pipe 3 into the pipe line 1. When this occurs,the float 16, having lost its liquid support, will descend, causing theclosing of the switch 17 and the energizing of the solenoid 21. Thisenergized solenoid 21 will move the relay 20 .into the reversingposition, indicated by the dotted lines of the contacts in Fig. 1 of thedrawing, with the following consequences:

First, the time delay relay 13 will be energized, which after thepredetermined time delay will transmit the energization to the closingsolenoid 11, causing thereby the closing of the control valve and theshutting off of the flow of compressed air from the supply pipe 7.

.Second, through the conductor 25 the time delay relay 112 will receiveenergization, which it will transmit, after aselected time delay, to theopening solenoid 110. The result of this will be the moving of thecontrol valve 106 into the open position, permitting the compressed airto flow from the supply pipe 107 into the tank 102 causing the reversalof the flow of the cleaning fluid.

It is an important feature of this invention that, regardless of thelevel of the location of the liquid detector, the operator can shut offthe compressed air, behind the flow, at any desired stage of the fluidtransfer by the proper adjusting of the time delay relays connected tothe closing solenoids. Also, by the proper adjustment of the time delayrelays connected to the opening solenoids, the operator can provide apredetermined time interval between the shutting off of the operatingair and the opening of the reverse air for obtaining a predeterminedamount of a deceleration of the flow of cleaning fluid, before thereversal takes place.

It is to be understood that the forms of my invention herein set forthare only examples of the same and that various changes in the shape,size, and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit of my invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for cleaning a pipe line comprising, a pair of closedtanks for holding the cleaning fluid, each with an outlet pipe connectedto opposite ends of the pipe line; air supply pipes adapted to conductcompressed air, alternately, toone .of said tanks, in order to forcesaid cleaning fluid, through the pipe line, into the other tank; a pairof control valves, inserted into said supply pipes, each adapted tocontrol the flow of the compressed air into one of said tanks, saidvalves having open and closed positions and being arranged to be inopposite positions during the cleaning operation of said apparatus; .apair of opening solenoids, operatively connected to .said controlvalves, each being adapted to open one of said valves, when energized; apair-ofclosing solenoids, operatively connected to said control valves,each being adapted to close one of said valves, when energized; a pairof liquid detector housings, each being in communication with a selectedportion of one of said outlet pipes; a pair of floats, each movablymounted in one of said housings, and being adapted to assume a lowposition in the absence of cleaning fluid in the respective housing andto assume a raised position when buoyed by the fluid contained in saidhousing; a pair of switches, each operatively con nected to one of saidfloats and having a closed position corresponding to one position of therespective float, and an open position corresponding to the otherposition of said float; electrical circuit means, .interconnectingsaidswitches and solenoids, and including time .delay relays,

being adapted to reverse the positions of said pair of control valves,after predetermined time delays, when oneof said floats assumes the lowposition.

, 2. The apparatus of claim .1 in which said liquid detector housing hascommunication with the tank.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said time delay relays areconnected into the energizing circuits of said opening and closingsolenoids, and they are so adjusted as to give a predetermined timeinterval between the closing of one control valve and the openin of theother control valve, in order to obtain the deceleration of the flow ofcleaning fluid prior to its reversal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSGermany 'Feb. :12, 1932

